THE Barbican Centre WILL be available to host the UK Snooker Championships, York council chiefs today guaranteed.

Leisure chiefs at the authority have taken steps to reassure World Snooker, the game's governing body, that the centre will be fit to host the championships "under any circumstances".

Last month's event, the third which has been held in York, brought to an end the contract between council chiefs and World Snooker.

The Barbican has proved very popular with players and World Snooker, which has seen sell-out finals in each of the three years.

But the redevelopment of the building had led to speculation that the centre would not be ready should the city have the chance to host the tournament again.

Now council chiefs moved to remove any doubts and have informed World Snooker that they can guarantee the Barbican's availability.

Charlie Croft, the council's assistant director for lifelong learning and leisure, said: "The council has guaranteed to work together with Absolute Leisure (one of the groups involved in the Barbican development) to make the venue available to World Snooker."

World Snooker did not wish to comment in any detail, but said it was still discussing where the 2004 UK Championships were to be held.

Updated: 10:47 Thursday, December 11, 2003